The present invention relates to a process for treating fresh fruit and vegetables.
After harvesting, fresh fruit and vegetables are commonly stored, for a period which may be relatively long, before being placed on the market for consumption within a few days.
It is important for fruit and vegetables not to lose their qualities, in particular their appearance, during this storage period. This produce can be degraded, in particular by the proliferation of fungi at the surface of the fruit or vegetable, leading to rapid deterioration of the fruit or vegetable affected, by oxidation (in the case of cut lettuce) or by the phenomenon of xe2x80x9cscaldxe2x80x9d which is reflected by blackening of the skin of the fruit or vegetables due to oxidized products, which accumulate in the waxy surface coat, this phenomenon possibly reaching down to the pulp of the fruit (in the case of apples and pears). These deteriorations are even faster if the fruit or vegetable has any small bruises consisting of nicks in the skin.
It is known practice to treat fruit and vegetables, before storage, with agents having antioxidant activity, so as to retard their degradation for as long as possible.
Among antioxidant substances which are known are many synthetic products such as diphenylamine; ethoxyquine; 3-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole and 2-tert-butyl-4-hydroxyanisole (BHA); 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT); and tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ).
These compounds are usually applied to the fruit and vegetables at ambient temperature on account of their powerful antioxidant activity. However, they may present a certain level of toxicity to the consumer.
In order to overcome this drawback, patent application FR 96/03100 proposes a process for treating fruit and vegetables using natural substances, which are only scarcely effective or indeed ineffective at room temperature, namely polyphenols, as antioxidants. This process involves treating the fruit and vegetables at a temperature between 40 and 60xc2x0 C.
More specifically, FR 96/03100 describes a process for treating fruit and vegetables, comprising the steps consisting in:
bringing a liquid treating composition to a temperature of from 40 to 60xc2x0 C., this composition comprising, in an aqueous vehicle, at least one treating agent chosen from an antioxidant of polyphenol type, a terpenic compound and mixtures thereof, and
placing the fruit or vegetables in the liquid treating composition at the said temperature for a period of less than or equal to 10 minutes.
Thus, the process of FR 96/03100 has the effect of amplifying the low antioxidant power of polyphenols.
However, this process was found to be much less effective in the case of other antioxidant substances of natural origin, such as, for example, ascorbic acid (or vitamin C). Accordingly, in the case of ascorbic acid, the antioxidant activity is only very slightly increased by using a process comprising the hot (40 to 60xc2x0 C.) application of the treating composition, compared with the activity observed by application at ambient temperature.
The present inventors have discovered, entirely unexpectedly, that tocopherols, which have very low antioxidant activity when applied at ambient temperature, show greatly amplified activity by hot application to fruit and vegetables.
This result is all the more unexpected since tocopherols have only one phenolic function, an assembly of lipophilic groups and virtually no activity at ambient temperature. Tocopherols are methyl derivatives of tocol, which has the formula: 
Thus, xcex1-tocopherol is 5,7,8-trimethyltocol; xcex2-tocopherol is 5,8-dimethyltocol; xcex3-tocopherol is 7,8-dimethyltocol; and xcex4-tocopherol is 8-methyltocol.
The invention is thus based on this discovery.
More specifically, the process of the invention comprises the steps consisting in:
bringing a liquid treating composition to a temperature of from 40 to 60xc2x0 C., this composition comprising, in an aqueous vehicle, one or more tocopherols which may be in the form of salts acceptable for food use; and
applying the said treating composition to the fruit and vegetables by immersion or spraying, the immersion or spraying being continued for a time of less than or equal to 10 minutes.
The tocopherols which can be used according to the invention are those with antioxidant activity. Among these are xcex1-tocopherol (or vitamin E), xcex2-tocopherol, xcex3-tocopherol and xcex4-tocopherol. xcex1-Tocopherol is a preferred tocopherol, whether it is used in its native form or in the form of one of its salts acceptable for food use.
In point of fact, the treating composition can comprise one or more tocopherols in the form of salt acceptable for food use. Salts which are particularly preferred are, in particular, the alkali metal salts such as the sodium salts, the lithium salts and the potassium salts.
The treating composition advantageously comprises xcex1-tocopherol.
It should be understood that any process using, as treating composition, a composition comprising one or more tocopherols in combination with a terpene chosen from eugenol, isoeugenol, their salts acceptable for food use and their mixtures is excluded from the subject of the present patent application and thus from the protection sought.
According to the invention, the fruit and vegetables can be treated just after harvesting or during the period of conservation and storage of the fruit and vegetables. Preferably, this treatment is carried out just after harvesting. In any case, the process of the invention does not comprise a preliminary step of cooling the fruit and vegetables to the core by immersion or spraying using an aqueous cooling composition with a temperature of from 0 to 15xc2x0 C.
In other words, before applying the hot treating composition, the fruit and vegetables treated are not subjected to a hydrocooling treatment with an aqueous composition having a temperature of between 0 and 15xc2x0 C.
The process of the invention is particularly suitable for treating lettuce, apples and pears.
The process of the invention involves treating fruit and vegetables with an aqueous composition (designated as the treating composition) which has a temperature of between 40 and 60xc2x0 C., preferably between 45 and 55xc2x0 C. and better still between 48 and 52xc2x0 C., for example 50xc2x0 C.
The treating composition is advantageously in the form of a solution or dispersion in an aqueous vehicle.
Depending on whether the antioxidant active principle is more or less soluble in water, the composition can also additionally comprise at least one surfactant chosen, in a manner which is known per se, from non-ionic, anionic, cationic and amphoteric surfactants.
According to the invention, the treating composition comprises from 500 to 10000 ppm by weight of tocopherol(s) (optionally in the form of salts), preferably from 1000 to 5000 ppm, for example 3000 ppm.
The treating composition is applied to the fruit and vegetables either by immersion or by spraying.
The duration of this operation is very short, generally less than or equal to 10 minutes, in particular from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, advantageously from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. A contact time of from 2 to 3 minutes is usually sufficient.
The composition is preferably applied such that the amount of antioxidant used is from 2 to 40 g/tonne of fruit or vegetables treated.
When the duration of treatment with the desired hot composition is complete, the application can be terminated by any known means, in particular by simply stopping the spraying or removing the fruit or vegetables from the immersion tank. The fruit or vegetables can then be stored for subsequent distribution.
In one advantageous variant, in particular in the case of heat-sensitive fruit or vegetables, the process can also comprise a step consisting in rapidly cooling fruit or vegetables which have been placed in contact with the hot treating composition, bringing them down to a temperature below or equal to ambient temperature (15 to 25xc2x0 C.).
This cooling can be carried out by circulating air or by contact with water (in particular immersion or spraying) whose temperature is less than or equal to ambient temperature.
Surprisingly, the process of the invention leads to a marked increase in the antioxidant activity of tocopherols.
This process is particularly advantageous since it uses natural substances which can be ingested without any danger to the consumer and since it allows the use of smaller amounts of an inexpensive active principle.
According to another of its aspects, the invention relates to the use of an aqueous treating composition brought to a temperature of from 40 to 60xc2x0 C. and comprising, as antioxidant active principle, one or more tocopherols, which may be in the form of salt(s) acceptable for food use, for the antioxidant treatment of fruit and vegetables and in particular apples and pears. However, the use of a composition comprising a combination of tocopherol(s), which may be in the form of salts, with a terpene chosen from eugenol, isoeugenol, their salts acceptable for food use and their mixtures is excluded from the subject of the present invention.
The examples which follow illustrate the invention in further detail. In these examples, the treating composition, preheated to 50xc2x0 C., is applied for 3 minutes to Granny Smith apples, by immersion or spraying.
In the examples which follow, ppm denotes parts per million by weight.